Medals and points won at Mayo Cross Country

Warm dry conditions made for an enjoyable event today as Swinford AC hosted the Mayo Cross Country Championships. There was excellent collaboration with Mayo Co Board right through from parking to prize giving, with ample refreshments provided for the large crowd of competitors and supporters.

The venue is known locally as Mellett’s Hill – as a title it’s certainly no misnomer, though ‘hills’ might be more apt. The testing ups and downs along the one kilometre lap course (combining three fields) provided a formidable challenge – true cross country without the mud. The adult races were preceded by juvenile under 8-18 events. For the senior/masters races, some u18 categories were combined with adults – women ran four laps while men completed six.

Well done to our nine runners – five women and four men – all coming home with team and/or individual medals. Colette Tuohy won the women’s race by a distance, taking over the lead on the third lap. As usual she was well supported by Angela O’Connor and Ann Murray. For both Monica Joyce and Angela McVann it was their cross country debut. They enjoyed each other’s company all the way round and their efforts combined with those of Colette, Angela and Ann won Mayo AC gold senior team medals.